


Sunspot

by Mysterious_Prophetess



Series: Clone-Verse [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, OC centric, kid fic sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-23 04:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17676671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Mysterious_Prophetess
Summary: In some timelines, the Three Clones grow up in the World of Ruin just having to deal with being their own people. In this timeline, however, something draws Sidus and Diana to Insomnia to the aid of something---or rathersomeonewho needed their help.





	1. Sunbeam

“If the others catch us, we’re _dead_ ,” Mercury said.

“Stop being such a baby, Mercury,” Diana replied. Sidus was silent as he, and the other two clone kids, snuck over to one of the many abandoned cars sitting around in Gauldin Quay.

“We have an hour before Iris realizes we slipped onto the truck to Gauldin Quay,” Sidus said. He found a car with its keys and pumped his fist a little.

“Why are we doing this again?” Mercury gave him a pointed stare.

“Something is calling to both of us in Insomnia, and I’d rather not wait to find out what it is,” Sidus said.

“Then you’ll be having me tag along, kids.” They winced. It was one of the Glaives, Libertus Ostium. His eyes widened a little once he got a good look at the three of them.

“Who’re you three?” he asked.

“I”m Mercury, that’s Diana, and that’s Sidus,” Mercury quickly drew most of the attention.

“Yeah, and why do they look like the late Oracle and the missing King?” Libertus asked. His arms were crossed.

“You knew them, didn’t you?” Diana asked.

“A little. I helped Lady Lunafreya get out of Insomnia and I was a Glaive long enough to have seen King Noctis a time or two,” Libertus.

“Would you believe that we’re all clones?” Mercury asked.

“ ** _Mercury_**!” the other two yelled.

“Clones? How?” Libertus asked. Sidus and Diana exchanged looks and sighed.

“The Nifs made us. I was supposed to be used to control the Crystal,” Sidus said.

“I was to be used to….continue the Oracle’s bloodline,” Diana gripped her arm a little. Mercury saw Libertus’s face so he jumped in.

“I was supposed to be an MT,” Mercury said. It didn’t help.

“You mean those **_weren’t_** robots?” Libertus seemed stricken.

“Nope. Deamonified human cyborgs,” Mercury said, “But killing them was a kindness, so don’t feel bad about it! None of them still…looked like this by the time the process of finishing a unit was completed. Most of them had accelerated aging. I…was defective. I didn’t age any faster than a normal human.”

“The Marshal know about you three?” Libertus asked.

“Yeah. He said that if anyone started asking too much about us, he had answers for them,” Sidus said, “Believable ones that don’t involve the truth…”

“And he didn’t share those with you guys?” Libertus saw the three shift a little.

“He might have told us….but we forgot them,” Mercury said. Diana huffed.

“Don’t lump me in with you two,” Diana said, “Yours was the simplest by far. You are Prompto Argentum’s baby brother, and you were both from Niflheim but your biological family managed to get Prompto out of the empire to a better life in Insomnia. They attempted to do the same with you, but you were taken to be experimented on. I’m the illegitimate offspring of Lord Ravus, raised by the empire as a bargaining chip against him. Sidus’s was by far the most complex, but it involved a traitor to the crown and the stealing of him from Insomnia by said traitor.”

“Titus Drautos. There’s your traitor. Guy was some major Nif all along,” Libertus said.

“I’ll have to remember that since the boys won’t,” Diana said.

“Hey!”

————————————————————————————————————

Libertus steered them to a truck instead of a car.

“We have about two hours of daylight left, so, let’s make ‘em count!” Libertus said once he started the engine up. The kids nodded. They heard something in the back and two more Glaives had appeared. A man and a woman.

“You’re not going without back up, Ostium!” The woman said.

“Fine, keep an eye out for nasties, will ya?”

The truck lurched forwards and soon they were speeding out of Gauldin Quay, past other abandoned vehicles and out of the protective border of lights. The beasts were more of a problem in the waning light than the few minor daemons that popped up here and there. A daemon materialized in front of the truck, but Diana stuck her arm out the window and hit it with golden light.

“What was that?” Libertus asked.

“Golden Light. I’m not an Oracle. I can’t heal scourge or speak to the Astrals, but I can heal other injuries and kill daemons,” Diana said.

“So, that’s why you three thought you could make it on your own,” Libertus said.

“Sidus has powers too—ouch!” Mercury rubbed the back of his head after Sidus had smacked him.

“Should have figured as much. Full Lucian Royal powers, right?” Libertus asked.

“I guess so,” Sidus said.

“What about you?” Libertus looked over at Mercury briefly.

“Just a normal sword-sworn bond and I’m a really good shot with ranged weapons,” Mercury explained summoning a gun briefly before dismissing it.

“Guess we don’t have to worry about baby sitting the three of you then.”

————————————————————————————————————

They reached the gates of Insomnia an hour or two after the sun had set, and spent a lot of it driving daemons off so they could make a break for it. Once over the bridge between Isomnia and the mainland, the roads became more impassable.

“So, where are we going?” the woman (Jenrica) asked.

“Ask these three. They’re the ones with the summons here,” Libertus explained.

“We’re following a trio of kids?” the man (Tonbul) said.

“We’re not just kids, ya know!” Mercury muttered.

“ ** _Mercury!_** ” Sidus and Diana snapped. He shrugged a little.

“The call is coming from that way,” Diana said pointing forwards, towards the center of Insomnia.

“Where the nastiest nasties are said to be, great!” Tonbul said before Jenrica elbowed him in the side.

“We’re not here to fight _anything_. We’re here to get in, find out what’s calling us, and then get out,” Sidus said.

“That’s the plan? We stealth our way through? That’s…actually not a bad idea,” Jenrica said.

“Better than fighting powerful daemons,” Tonbul said.

“Do you really think we’d be able to fight anything that powerful?” Mercury asked, “Sure we have _some_ skills, but we’re only really battle tested against little daemons, not big ones.”

“I can get us to the center easy enough,” Libertus said, “Follow my lead!”

————————————————————————————————————

Sidus had to wonder what the city had looked like before this destruction. It must have been really nice. _Noctis grew up here_. _I wonder what I’d have been like if I’d grown up here too?_ Sidus shook his head. It was pointless to think about “what ifs” like that. His life was his life and that’s all there was to it. They were skirting piles of rubble the closer they got to the center of the city and skirting around more and more daemons and mutated beasts. They had to stop a block or two away from the source. Too many powerful nasties were there.

“New plan, how the hell do we get anywhere near the Citadel?” Tonbul asked.

“It’s a Citadel, so it’s designed to be defensible,” Libertus said.

“That’s the Citadel of Insomnia?” Diana asked.

“Yeah. Used to look a little nicer,” Libertus said.

“What if we wait for daylight? Daemons are slightly weaker in it,” Sidus said.

“Good idea, kid,” Jenrica said.

“We need to find a safe place to hide,” Tonbul said.

“I know a place,” Libertus said, “It’s across the square, but it’ll have lights enough to repel any daemons.”

“Let’s book it!” Jenrica took point and they were mere steps away from the stairs into the shelter when they were swarmed. So, she activated her sigil and used Omniguard to protect everyone while Tonbul began to pick off the monsters with Libertus’s help. Mercury summoned his guns, Diana stood next to Jenrica and Sidus called upon the short sword Noctis had given him before he warp struck an enemy. This nearly cost Tonbul his life but he recovered. Sidus mimicked the air step ability after seeing Tonbul use the Rogue’s sigil and he also phased out of the way of attacks, liked he’d learned to do after fighting with Noctis. They ran down the stairs once they had a break in the attacks and were slamming the doors shut.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Tonbul asked, “That was two sigils at once.”

“It was?” Sidus asked.

“Look, if you really wanna know, you’re gonna have to ask the Marshal,” Libertus said.

“What’s Cor the Immortal have to do with this?” Jenrica asked.

“He’s our guardian, sort of. We snuck out while he was busy on patrol,” Diana explained, “Both Sidus and I felt something calling us to the city and we knew Cor would never let us go.”

“And this call is tied to your powers?” Tonbul asked.

“We don’t know, ok?” Sidus replied.

“Fine, but I hope the explanations are as major as you two seem to be building them up to be,” Jenrica said.

————————————————————————————————————

The sun rose, and the weak light managed to at least keep the highest level monsters at bay, for a little while. Sidus followed the Glaives to the gates, which opened with a light push.

“Someone’s expecting us?” Libertus said. The other two Glaives were on guard. Sidus exchanged looks with the other two who nodded and were at the ready. Nothing happened. They ran through the courtyard half expecting a Gargantua or a Necromancer to appear. Nothing. They made it to the front steps of the Citadel without any obstacles in their way. They entered and it was relatively intact.

“Where to now?” Libertus asked.

“Down?” Diana said.

“Yeah. Down. Are there any stairs?” Sidus asked.

“This way,” Libertus found a door and forced it open and there were stairs that led into darkness. Diana held up a hand and it glowed.

“How long can you keep that up?” Libertus asked.

“Long enough.”

————————————————————————————————————

They reached a level where Diana stopped and nodded to the door. It was maybe a four flights down into the basement levels. The door had been clearly damaged before. Jenrica kicked it open and on the other side was something that made Diana drop her spell. There were glowing tubes in the room.

“ ** _Gestation tubes_** ,” Mercury said in disgust.

“Ges- _what_ tubes?” Tonbul asked.

“This is how they _grow_ MT’s,” Mercury said gesturing around the converted room. Most of the tubes were empty, but a few were glowing here and there lighting the room up enough for them to walk. One clone tube held a fully grown Lunafreya clone. Diana wrinkled her nose in disgust at it. There was also a cloned form of Iedolas, King Regis, and a man Libertus recognized on the spot.

“NYX!” He smashed the tube open without a second’s delay and to the shock of everyone Nyx opened his eyes and began coughing.

“Where-where are we? Libertus? What are—What are you _doing_ here?” Nyx asked.

“Could ask you the same thing!” Libertus checked Nyx over for any damage and aside from being naked and wet, Nyx was fine. Sidus and Diana snooped around and found clothing set aside for the clones. Sidus handed the Glaive uniform over to Libertus. He saw Diana was standing pensively in front of her fellow Lunafreya clone’s tank while he stared up at his original’s father’s clone. _A perfect pair we’d make; a copy of Regis for a copy of Noctis_. Something else caught his eye. A movement. Sniffling. Small? Sidus walked over to a side room where a small form was huddled under a desk in what was very clearly a den of sorts from the garbage and other items.

“It’s ok, I won’t hurt you,” Sidus said crouching down. Something small then slammed into his legs sobbing. Looking down, all Sidus could see was a messy mop of blond hair in a ratty white coat more suited for Gralea than Lucis. He heard other smashes and looked over to see the capsule containing Iedolas’s clone had been smashed by the Glaives. Not that he blamed them. The empty shell didn’t wake and just laid in the broken glass and water. Attempts at removing the Lunafreya or Regis clones prompted those tanks to sink into the ground.

“Grampy no wake!” the little one clinging to him moaned.

“It’ll be ok. He’s probably in a better place now.” Sidus didn’t actually believe that platitude, but he’d heard enough adults tell that to little kids these past six months to know that’s what you say to a kid. Especially one this small.

“Where’d you find a kid?” Sidus nearly jumped out of his skin whenever Mercury spoke.

“The kid found me,” Sidus replied.

“Hey little guy. We’re going to get you out of here,” Mercury said.

“Not little. Big boy!” the kid said. He let go and revealed a set of watery blue eyes rimmed with red and his little face was covered in dirt that his tears streaked through.

“How long have you been here?” Sidus asked.

“I no know. Mean Man took me from room and here I stay. He feed me some times, he forget lots,” The kid said.

“Does “Mean Man” have purple hair?” Mercury asked. The kid nodded.

“What’s your name? I’m Sidus and this is Mercury,” Sidus said.

“Solis,” Solis said.

“Nice to meet you, Solis,” Sidus said. Sidus offered Solis his hand which he took with a vice-like grip. Or as close to one of those a three-year-old had.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Tonbul asked once Sidus walked over with Solis gripping his hand for dear life.

“What the—a kid?!”

“Ardyn brought him here for some reason and it seems he forgets to feed him so we’re taking him with us,” Sidus said. He had a feeling this was what had called to he and Diana. This kid. Why, who knew, but the faster they got him away from Ardyn, the better.

“Let me do something before we go,” Mercury said and he summoned a gun.

“Cover the kid’s ears, will ya? Kid, I’m only doing this because these tanks are used for bad things, usually, and I don’t want the mean man to be able to use them again,” Mercury explained. Sidus crouched and covered Solis’s ears as Mercury opened fire; shattering all of the remaining tubes. Their lit bottoms kept the room illuminated but now there was also a lot of glass on the floor.

“Really didn’t want him growing any more MT’s?” Tonbul asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” Mercury replied. Sidus uncovered Solis’s ears who grabbed onto his chest tightly out of fear.

“It’s ok. Mercury was only trying to make sure that the Mean Man couldn’t make any more bad things with those,” Sidus said.

————————————————————————————————————

Mercury found a few brooms and he and the other two clones got to work sweeping all the broken glass into a pile. Solis was sitting on Nyx’s lap as the Glaive told him some sort of story that involved big sweeping hand gestures and tickling the toddler from time to time.

“The kid is why we were called here,” Diana said, “I can feel it.”

“Glad those Glaives incinerated that,” Mercury said. _That_ had been the Iedolas clone’s lifeless corpse.

“Glad they thought to do it on the stairwell _away_ from the kid,” Sidus said. They had most of the glass in a huge sparkling pile.

“Wouldn’t recommend walking around barefoot but the worst of it is swept up,” Tonbul said leaning on his own broom, he’d joined them shortly after they started, after he’d helped Jenrica incinerate Iedolas’s clone’s corpse.

“Anyone else notice theres a side room back there?” Mercury said pointing to a back door. Mercury led the way with Jenrica, Tonbul, and Sides behind him. Diana had stopped next to Nyx, Solis, Libetus and the unconscious clones.

“They put one of those Nif locks on it,” Tonbul said. Mercury shrugged and held his right wrist over it, moving his long sleeve up to reveal his barcode.

“Unit 744-09301130, welcome.”

“Unit?” Jenrica said.

“Let’s just take a look inside,” Mercury said. He flicked on a light and saw hastily crammed monitors inside the room, most of them flashing red. He entered a few basic codes he could remember and soon was at the general control page and was able to shut off the alerts bathing the small room in white-blue light from the monitors default modes. He quickly searched through the items and grimaced at a few labeled: Visum Mortem, Sole Macula, and Injuria. Mercury clicked on “Injuria” first but it was in a language he didn’t know. Visum Mortem contained files on the cloned bodies they found. The scientific aspects were in a language he knew, but there was a set of long notes in that same dead language. The final one was Sole Macula, and it was all readable and Mercury was pissed. So were the Glaives. Sidus was confused.

“What does this mean?” Sidus asked.

“You know how you were plan B? This kid was plan C!” Mercury snapped.

“Solis? Plan C for what—oh. How?” Sidus asked.

“They took Noctis’s blood and Lunafreya’s blood, and managed to splice together a child! Solis is Noctis’s biological son and that monster was raising him as his grandson to get a proper future puppet king! No wonder he had plans to kill off Noctis and Lunafreya! Why would he need them whenever he had the best of both worlds in one small package!” Mercury slammed a fist down and he shook it out.

“We need to get the Crown Prince out of here,” Jenrica said.

“It’s why Diana and I were called here. To save him from Ardyn,” Sidus said.

“I’m going to download all of this,” Mercury said as he rummaged around and stole a flash drive and a laptop.

“What is it?” Diana had walked to the door way.

“Solis is…the biological son of Noctis and Lunafreya. They used their DNA to make him.”

“I see.” Diana nodded but the two Glaives followed them out.

——————————————————————————————————————

Nyx had heard some of the shouting and looked up at the others.

“We need to move as soon as it’s daylight again. The kid….he can’t stay here,” Tonbul said.

“Why’s that?”

“He’s King Noctis’s biological son,” Jenrica said.

“His what?”

“The Empire they took whatever DNA they had to make this child by mixing it with Lunafreya’s DNA,” Sidus said.

“I sense **him**!” Diana gasped. “ **He** ’s coming.” Nyx nodded before he spotted the glimmering pile of wet glass.

“What do ya say we move that?” Nyx said. The others nodded and with a combination of brooms and axe blades, they had the pile in front of the door in no time. Sidus looked around and found a hose of some sort, with which he drenched the pile and door.

“Stay back!” he thrust an arm forwards and froze the mass to the doorway.

“So, how do we get out now?” Mercury asked. Sidus picked up Solis.

“There’s gotto be a secret passage out of here, right?” Sidus looked to Libertus, Nyx, Jenrica, and Tonbul.

“I know of one, if only ‘cause I fell into it once,” Libertus said. He led them past other small alcoves to where a switch in the wall was. Mercury took the lead and ripped a panel off, hot-wiring the way through.

“I see more feeding tubes,” Sidus said.

“Why would he hide a gestation tube here?” Mercury mused.

“Another one of those things?” Libertus said.

“Guess the Chancellor really likes cloning,” Nyx muttered. Sidus’s eyes widened. _Ravus_. The Ravus clone was an adult, whole, hale, and scourge free. Mercury slid around the tank and found the control panel.

“It’s reading ready to go, so, if I do this!” Mercury slammed a button with a bit more force than necessary.

“Anyone have any extra clothes that might fit him?” Diana asked. Tonbul produced a loose shirt and what looked like sleep pants from his inventory.

“We’ll have to steal from a clothing store on the way out for his boots,” Nyx said.

——————————————————————————————————————

Ravus opened his eyes after seeing his sister too briefly on the other side.

 _Your time is not yet up_. He was in some dark corridor wearing plain clothing and no shoes.

“Mr. White!”

“Solis?” the “grandson” of Iedolas was staring at him in the darkness.

“So, he’s definitely Ravus.” There were four Glaives in this tunnel, from what he could see of their uniforms and three smaller sized people. Adolescents.

“I have found some boots that will likely fit him, but we must hurry. I fear our door stop won’t last long against the Dark One.” Even in the dim lighting, Ravus recognized the form. She looked just like his sister.

“My name is Diana. Things will be explained later, but for now you must run with us,” Diana said. He pulled the boots on and laced them up quickly with his two _flesh_ hands. He stood and a sword was offered to him by a Noctis look-alike.

“There are tons of nasty daemons,” he said. Ravus nodded. He could fight with them for now and deal with everything later.

 

Sidus crouched in front of Solis.

“Ever have a piggy back ride?” he asked. Solis shook his head.

“Ok, put your arms around my neck and I’ll grab your legs. It’ll make this easier on both of us,” Sidus explained Solis did as asked and soon they were following Libertus’s lead to get out.

——————————————————————————————————————

 _Ardyn lazily walked down the stairs. He hadn’t counted on the little ducklings to answer the poor thing’s calls of distress so soon. He’d been hoping for a little while longer so he could get his little puppets out of their tanks. Oh well. Hmmm. He reached the platform outside the room and there were marks indicating fire magic. So, they’d destroyed the Iedolas clone, he bet. Pity that was his only clone of that buffoon. He casually tugged on the door and only dispassionately noticed the door was so cold to the touch his hand developed frostbite on contact. Ice magic. That little clone of the so called “Chosen King” was developing nicely with his skills. Should provide a bit of fun down the road.Well, it was a waiting game at this point. The little brats had no working knowledge of the Citadel._ **_Hmmm, that was a boot print in the soot too large to be the ducklings._ **

_Those oh-so-charming Glaives were involved. Now that was another matter all together. He summoned a sword and slammed it through the door only to strike something else. He narrowed his eyes and slashed harder, this time obliterating the door and part of the other obstacle: a mountain of frozen glass shards. Clever.He saw that two of his tanks had sunken into the ground as programmed but Iedolas’s clone’s tank was smashed and so had the tank that had held the clone of that annoying Glaive—Ulric. No matter, they had to be in the rooms somewhere. He searched around and rolled his eyes in annoyance once he saw that the group had found the secret passage after all._

——————————————————————————————————————

Sidus’s arms were getting tired by the time they emerged into an underground complex of sorts. His sheltered upbringing left him without a word for this place.

“We’ll need one of the bigger cars,” Libertus muttered.

“Leave that to us,” Jenrica said before she and Tonbul sprinted further out.

 

Sidus looked over at Ravus who was openly staring at him and Solis now.

“ ** _You_**. What are you?” Ravus demanded.

“Noctis’s Clone,” Sidus said, “My name is Sidus.”

“That would make you Lunafreya’s clone,” Ravus said pointing to Diana.

“I am,” she replied. Mercury just shrugged a little.

“Another of the Besithia clones,” Ravus remarked.

“You…uh…know what MT’s were, then?” Mercury asked. Ravus just gave him an unimpressed look before he pulled Solis off of Sidus’s back and stared down at the dozing three year old.

“Um…that’s your…nephew by the way. We have the computer files to prove it,” Mercury said. Ravus did a double take and nodded before he adjusted his grip on the child.

“ ** _Some help would be nice_**!” Tonbul came running to get everyone who sprinted in the direction he’d com from to reveal a Psychomancer had cornered Jenrica who, with the sigil of the Just, had her omniguard up. Sidus looked around and summoned his short sword to hand and warped to her side. He pulled out an ether and offered it to her. She crushed it prolonging her shield.

“How did you manage that, kid?” Jenrica asked.

“Not important,” Sidus said. More warping noises let him know that the others who could warp had arrived including Nyx, who seemed a bit surprised at this skill. Diana ran over and summoned the spear Ignis had given her.

“Golden light!” Sidus commanded after he analyzed the daemon. Diana nodded and closed her eyes focusing before she slammed her spear forwards with a concentrated beam of gold light which vaporized part of the daemon.

“I can’t do that twice,” she said before she put up a shield. Jenrica dropped hers.

“It’s weak to lightning magic,” Sidus said after he finished using magic to read it like Ignis had taught him.

“I have a lightning spell,” Tonbul said.

“Anything else?” Mercury asked as he peppered the daemon with pot shots.

“Greatswords,” Sidus replied.

“Ok, so one out of two ain’t bad,” Mercury said. Sidus shrugged. With a nod to Tonbul Sidus warped upwards and gathered as much lightning energy as he could stand and hurled it down at the Psychomancer before he warped to the safety of Diana’s shield. Tonbul’s spell was more ground based. He warped back and looked over at Sidus with some shock.

“How did you do that?” Tonbul asked. Jenrica was warp striking like crazy in coordination with Libertus and Nyx, neither of which had electric spells but were bound and determined to chip away health, much like Mercury was doing with his constant stream of bullets.

“We don’t have time for that now,” Sidus said as he switched weapons to the Silver Light replica of the Bow of the Clever. It wasn’t as strong as the actual royal arm but it had the upshot of not draining his life force when used. It did drain his magical reserves, however. Sidus had to switch weapons again once he all but exhausted that. Diana was starting to tire.

“I can’t keep this up much longer!” Sidus nodded and he focused on regaining some of his mana back. He switched to the Greatsword of the Tall’s Silver Light copy and with a few steps and a toss he chucked the blade right at the Pyschomancer and warped with it adding extra damage to his strike. He switched weapons and barely rolled out of the way of another attack. Jerncia had her omniguard back up in the nick of time. Diana fell to her knees panting. Sidus bit his lip before he pulled out two of his last Ethers. He offered Diana one and crushed the other.

“Why?” Diana asked.

“If you do Golden Light one last time while I go at it with my Silver Light Armiger, I think we can weaken it enough for the others to finish off,” Sidus said.

“I’ll try,” Diana said. She charged out of the shield with Sidus at her side. He summoned his armiger blades and she struck first with the golden beam and he cleared his head and let the magic guide him into the warp strikes with the blades. It was difficult with the larger weapons but soon enough he was back to the Blade of the Father finishing off the combined chain on the reeling Psychomancer, which allowed the Glaives, the much stronger Glaives, and Ravus, who’d set Solis down, to strike finishing blows to the creature. Sidus shakily smiled over at the others.

“Who are you?” Tonbul asked.

“Just…a kid,” Sidus said.

“A kid with powers like a Lucian Royal?” Jenrica raised an eyebrow.

“His name is Sidus _Lucis Caelum_.” Sidus, Diana, and Mercury winced. Iggy and the guys had caught up with them.

“Hey…guys?” Mercury waved at them. Even Prompto looked serious so they knew they were in for it.

“He claimed him?” Ravus said.

“As his brother, yes, because that’s what he is,” Ignis turned his head in Ravus’s direction, “I was under the impression you were dead.”

“I was until I awoke here,” Ravus replied.

“Well, that was pretty damned impressive, whatever it was you two did, but lets get back to where it’s safe before we figure out what to do with you,” Gladio said, “Thanks for going with them.”

“No problem,” Libertus said, “Ended up getting a friend back.”

“So, Aranea isn’t going to wait forever, and we’re almost out of daylight,” Prompto said before he motioned for everyone to follow him.

——————————————————————————————————————

They barely made it to Hammerhead before their limited daylight ran out. Solis stuck close to Ravus, Sidus, or Diana once they were in the safety of Hammerhead’s grounds. At that moment in time, he was sitting on Sidus’s lap outside of Takka’s.

“The Glaives explained who the tyke was,” Gladio said once he walked over to where the kids were sitting. Solis hid his face from Gladio, but then again, a man of Gladio’s size would be frightening for a small child, “Though we had to modify the truth about who you three were since Ravus is alive. He’s claiming Diana as his baby sister. He’ll explain how that’s possible to them and the usual stories still worked for the two of you. They’ve also been told to never let you go anywhere again without Me, Iggy, Prompto, or Ravus saying you can, got it?”

“But—.”

“Libertus explained that too. Ya didn’t think to tell one of us about that call?” Gladio seemed slightly hurt.

“You’ve been so busy, we didn’t want to waste your time in case this turned out to be some sort of false alarm,” Diana said.

“Now that’s just stupid. Never be afraid to come to us about stuff, alright?” Gladio stared them down and they all nodded.

“So, what about Solis?” Sidus asked.

“What about him? We’re just gonna take care of him same as you guys and Talcott,” Gladio said.

“Though, as his oldest living next of kin, I will be taking primary custody of him as well as custody of Diana,” Ravus walked over to the group.

“That’s a way to put it,” Mercury said. Sidus nodded silently. He’d been avoiding thinking about the genetic reality of being a clone of Noctis AKA Solis’s father, but Mercury and Ravus’s comments forced that thought out of the back of his mind.

“What if he develops powers like…mine?” Sidus asked looking up at Ravus.

“You will still be able to see him,” Ravus said, “But I cannot let the last pieces of my sister be so…poorly taken care of, not whenever I have the chance to keep them safe where I was powerless to save her.”

“I’m _not_ Lunafreya,” Diana said standing up, “I am not your _dead_ sister, but I guess I am still your sister. I’m the living one you’d better remember has different life experiences as an Imperial **_lab rat_**. I’ve had enough of being powerless too. That’s why Sidus and I went off like we did, because we wanted to do _something!_ You saw what I can do to those **things**! I have to help, even if all I can do is small, if I can even save _a_ life from the daemons, it’s worth fighting. Even if I have to fight you too, I’m **_not_** going to be locked up somewhere and protected. Locked doors will not determine my fate!”

Sidus nodded with her.

“None of us are our originals, which means we have no fate but the ones we make for ourselves,” Sidus said.

“I will try to keep that in mind,” Ravus said.


	2. Solar Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As time goes by, growing up in the darkness can be hard whenever you're a clone of a King or an Oracle. It can be even tougher being the son of _both_.

Five Years Later

Sidus stretched as he walked through Lestallum. Things had been getting worse. Daemons were stronger than ever and their precious few hours of daylight was down to being maybe half-an-hour at most. They’d lost three outposts in the last year until a mad plan to harness the power of the Rock of Ravatogh was put into effect. Though, all it did was help their remaining settlements keep going.

“Uncle Sid!” Sidus looked down to see Solis was bolting for him.

“Sol! Look at that, I swear, you’ve grown bigger in the last month!” Sidus said messing up Solis’s short blond hair.

“Nooo!” Solis fixed his hair a bit and beamed up at Sidus. With Sidus getting older, it was more obvious that they were related to one another. Except for the hair color, Solis was Sidus in miniature. Well and the nose was slightly different too.

“Where’s your Uncle Ravus?” Sidus asked.

“Talking with Uncle Iggy and Uncle Gladdy!” Solis said.

“That’ll be a while, so I bet he told you to run along and find me, right?” Sidus said.

“Uh-huh!” Solis replied.

“Well, I have the reputation to maintain as the fun uncle,” Sidus said, “I know, I think there’s a story time in the square being put on by Talcott soon.”

“But that’s little kid stuff,” Solis whined.

“Yeah, but the bigger kid stuff I do, isn’t safe for you,” Sidus explained, “Because one of the only sports in the city at the moment is Assassin running in preparation for the only festival we can still hold yearly.”

“But I promise to hold on really tight!” Solis said, “And you can warp to catch me!”

“I’m not supposed to go overboard with the warping here, you know?” Sidus said. Solis gave him pitiful puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

“Sorry, but Mercury is older than you and is way better at puppy dog eyes,” Sidus said, “Plus you have my face. I know a begging look on it.”

“Can’t we do something at least a little exciting?” Solis asked.

“Well, I suppose we could sneak into the bottom of the Leville. I hear there are tombs of our ancestors there,” Sidus said.

“Dead guys?” Solis wrinkled his nose a little.

“Yeah. Might even be ghosts hanging about, if the stories the Glaives told were true,” Sidus said.

“Ghosts?” Solis was suddenly interested.

“Yeah. These ghosts might even be helpful because we’re Lucii, just like they are,” Sidus said.

“Think my Grandpa will appear?” Solis asked.

“One way to find out,” Sidus replied, “Ready for our secret mission?”

——————————————————————————————————————

Solis used his cute face to distract the manager of the Leville long enough for Sidus to find the stairs down to the basement. It took calling in a favor from Mercury to get into the basement with Solis in tow. Sidus took the lead with a hand held behind him for Solis to grab onto. With a huff Solis complied. Deeper and deeper they delved. Ok, it was only a short flight of stairs down. He definitely felt….something down there.

“Should we have brought something to lay on their tombs?” Solis asked.

“Right. Well, we can pay our respects regardless,” Sidus said. He found a pull chain switch and illuminated the central space. There were about thirteen evenly spaced tombs. One looked newer than the others. It was conspicuously missing its glaive, but Sidus could read the engravings. _The Tomb of the Father_.

“Hello, I’m…Sidus. Iguess you never knew about me. If you’re wondering how you…ended up here and not some awful place as a trophy, some of the crownsguard risked their lives to recover your remains and sealed them in the tomb your advisors had had commissioned shortly after your ascension to the throne, or so Ignis told me. He…wanted me to pay my respects sooner but I was scared it wouldn’t be…anyway I have Solis with me. I bet you know all about him. Say hello to your Grandpa, Solis,” Sidus looked down at Solis who had suddenly become shy.

“Hello, Grandpa,” Solis said.

“We’re both here, and we’re both healthy and that’s without icky veggies, am I right?” Sidus smirked at the face Solis pulled before he nodded.

“Uncle Ravus and Uncle Iggy keep trying to make me eat them, but I sneak them off my plate!” Solis proudly admitted. He paused, “Can he really hear us, Uncle Sidus?”

“I’d like to think so, but even if he can’t, it’s nice to pretend,” Sidus replied.

“Oh. Is that why Uncle Ravus talks to the picture of Mommy when he thinks I’m not awake?” Solis asked.

“Yes. It’s his way of being close to her even after she’s gone,” Sidus explained.

“What about Daddy?” Solis asked.

“Noctis isn’t dead. He’s just… somewhere else,” Sidus said.

“How do you know?” Solis asked.

“I feel it here,” Sidus touched his heart, “That’s why I write letters to Noctis. So that, someday, when I see him again, I can give them to him so he can read them.”

“Why not write letters to Grandpa?” Solis asked.

“You can do that, if you want. I….prefer to talk to him,” Sidus said.

“Who are the others?” Solis asked.

“Those are our other ancestors. I never got to learn their names, only their titles. But, I bet if you were to ask Talcott, he could tell you more about them,” Sidus said.

“Who’s that?” Solis pointed to a nearby tomb.

“That’s the Warrior. He was said to have traveled to a distant land and come back with a special sword,” Sidus said. He pulled the Silver Light Katana into existence, “It looked a lot like this but it was metal.” Solis’s eyes were wide with hero-worship.

“You have the special weapons?” Sidus asked.

“Sort of,” Sidus replied, “That’s the Tomb of the Tall. His sword was stolen by daemons. Prompto told me all about it. Bet he’d tell you too, if you asked.”

“Wow!”

——————————————————————————————————————

Sidus wasn’t sure how long he explained who was whom amongst the recovered tombs, but it didn’t feel like it had been all that long. Now Solis was talking to each tomb one at a time, like he’d seen Sidus do with King Regis’s tomb.

“What are you two doing down here?”

Sidus turned to see the manager of the Leville.

“Paying our respects to family,” Sidus replied. Solis nodded.

“You’re the princes?” the man asked.

“I’m Prince Sidus: King Noctis’s brother, and this is Prince Solis, King Noctis’s son,” Sidus bowed at the waist and Solis copied him.

“Found them! Sorry dude, need to talk to these two,” Prompto squeezed past the stunned man.

“Is it a mission?” Sidus asked.

“More like Ravus wants to make sure Solis eats on time. You do realize it’s almost dinner time, right?” Prompto said. On cue their stomaches growled.

“I hadn’t realized we were down here this long,” Sidus replied, “Let’s go Solis, we can speak with them another time.” Sidus glanced at the manager who nodded.

“Of course,” the manager said.

 

“Uncle Sid helped me talk to dead people!” Solis said once they were out in the open air of Lestallum.

“Really?” Prompto asked.

“Yeah!” Solis replied.

“The place isn’t actually haunted, right?” Prompto asked.

“Not that I could tell,” Sidus said, “But I’m not a spirit medium. I’m just the Black Mage. Diana might be able to tell, but then again she might not since her powers aren’t exactly Oracle-y.”

“Just so long as they aren’t after you two for disturbing them or something.”

“Why would they be? We’re family!” Solis said.

“He has a point,” Sidus added. Diana was waiting with Ravus. She looked stunning, as usual. Sidus kept his face neutral so he wouldn’t become a blushing idiot around her. Though, he suspected that nothing he could do would avert that fate.

“Uncle! Uncle Sid took me to see the dead kings!”Solis said.

“The tombs at the Leville?” Ravus asked.

“Yeah! We talked to them, like you do Mommy!” Solis explained. Ravus looked over at Sidus and nodded in approval. It always seemed like Sidus had to be a good enough uncle in Ravus’s eyes for some reason. Then again, Ravus was also his sort of big-brother figure in the same way Ravus was Solis’s current father figure. Solis ran ahead, and Diana ran after him.

“It’s good that you teach him what you know of Lucian history. I trust you didn’t fill his head with fairy tales about those kings of old?” Ravus asked.

“I don’t know any of the fairy tales. I just know what I know from their titles and what knowledge Talcott’s….speeches have taught me,” Sidus replied, “I’m also not really teaching him anything beyond the fact that sometimes talking to the dead, even if we don’t know that they’re listening, is comforting. He’s the one who figured out that’s what you’re doing with Lunafreya’s shrine. I didn’t put him up to that.” Ravus nodded.

“I told him a little about Regis, what little I know. He might ask about…Queen Sylva. You might want to be ready for that, just in case,” Sidus said.

“You are truly nothing like Noctis,” Ravus said after a few moments.

“Just so long as you remember Diana isn’t anything like Lunafreya,” Sidus retorted.

“ ** _Aunt Diana, quit tickling me_**!”

“They are far more alike than Diana would like to admit, but I’ve come to terms with my other sister,” Ravus replied. Sidus smiled before he ran ahead.

“I’ll save you, Sol!”

——————————————————————————————————————

Sidus found himself back in the basement. This time after hours. He’d slipped out of the apartment he shared with the others. He’d been barely aware of what he’d done until he found himself in front of King Regis’s tomb.

“I don’t know where to begin. So, I guess a proper hello. I’m Sidus. I guess I’m technically your son because I was cloned from your actual son, and he sort of decided that I was worth keeping because he’d planned on keeping me around as his brother before the Crystal took him. Solis really is his son. The Nifs took his DNA and Lunafreya’s DNA to make him. He’s a great kid. I’m his favorite Uncle, and it drives Ravus nuts. Ravus is alive by the way. Somehow his soul was dragged into a clone of his body after something or other happened. I don’t totally get it but something about a Carbuncle helped guide his and Nyx’s souls to their duplicate bodies. Ardyn duplicated your body too. I don’t know why. He also duplicated Lunafreya’s body. I doubt anything good can come of that.”

“I suppose I should apologize to you and the others for taking on your glaives like that. I didn’t want to do it, but Ardyn threatened my friends. Ignis explained what the actual significance of that was and if Bahamut hadn’t already severed that, I’d offer to give it up. I’m sorry it took me five years to work up the courage to face you or the others here. I really don’t want to be King. I’ll be happy making sure Solis has support for that, but he’s the next one for sure. He’s…such a great kid. I wish you could actually meet him. You’d see what I see. So bright, and he has no idea what it means to be a Prince beyond occasionally getting your way. Ravus is doing such a good job with him. Better than I could have.If you can speak with Queen Sylva wherever you are, let her know Ravus is doing just fine now, and she has every reason to be proud of him. Also, if she could somehow contact Diana. Diana isn’t really an Oracle, but she has healing powers and her powers are the best anti-daemon measure we have, but she’s not bound to an Oracle’s tragic fate. I won’t let that happen and she won’t either.”

“I have to wonder what you’d… think of me, a glorified science experiment proclaiming myself as Noctis’s brother…and claiming you as my father when I’m little more than a copy of your real son and descendant. Someday, I’ll tell Solis the truth about…what I really am. Though, call me a coward, but it won’t be for a little while longer. I…It’s selfish but I don’t want to loose that look he has on his face when he calls me “Uncle Sid” just yet. When he’s old enough to understand, I’ll come clean about my real origins. He already knows about MT’s being clones because of Mercury’s big mouth, but he doesn’t know about any of the other cloning bits. That’s all I really wanted to say.”

“Thanks for being a great father to Noctis, or he might not have been the good person he was whenever he found the others and saved them. That’s right, he saved Mercury and Diana in Zegnatus Keep after Ardyn AKA the Immortal Accursed captured us. He kept us safe after we’d all reunited and wasn’t at all repulsed by my nature as his copy. It sounds minor, but for someone who’d been denied a real name, aside from being called “Starlight” or “boy” most of his life and treated like a tool, being treated well at all was a shock. First by his friend Prompto, and then by his friends Gladio and Ignis and finally him. I saw him have _compassion_ for the man he, at the time, considered his worst enemy when that same man would have had none for him had the roles been reversed. He…will be a great king someday…” Sidus trailed off in the darkness.

 

Sidus heard a chirp. Slightly glowing by his feet was a fox-like thing.

“How’d you get in here?” Sidus asked crouching down. Another chirp and a proffered cellphone? Sidus took it.

_Hello! I’m Carbuncle!_

“You’re the one who helped Ravus and Nyx?” Sidus asked.

_Sure am! I can help you too, but I’ll also need a little help from my friend!_

“Friend?” A flash of fire illuminated the room for a moment as a beautiful glowing red bird appeared out of nowhere. The phone buzzed again.

 ** _Me. I am called Phoenix_**.

 _Grab his tail feathers_. Sidus nodded before he reached forwards and gently grasped the long plumage.

 

_With a flash of flames the room changed. He was still in that room, but it was sort of glowing and his body was at his feet._

“ ** _Did you just kill me_**!” Sidus demanded.

**_No. I simply pulled your spirit out of your body, but you will remain alive. When you’re done tug on my tail again, and I will put your soul back where it belongs_.**

_“Done doing what?” Sidus asked before he realized the glows had solidified into spirits in armor. He backed away from them._

**Fear not, young one.** _Sidus realized who the spirits were._

_“Are you the Lucii of these tombs?” Sidus asked._

**We are.**

_“You….heard everything, I said?”_

**That we did, Son of Lucis. There is one who would speak with you.** _Sidus was confused as the others faded out and he_ _heard a throat being cleared. He turned around and the last armored form changed to look like…King Regis._

_“Should I…bow?” Sidus asked._

_“No.” Regis walked over inspecting Sidus carefully, “You might look and sound like Noct, but you are not merely his copy.”_

_“You’re not…upset that the Nifs did this?” Sidus asked._

_“The dead have no need for anger, and were I to want to be angry, it would never be directed at you,” Regis placed a hand on Sidus’s shoulder, “Your life might not have begun in an ordinary manner but what you choose to do with it is far more important than how it came to be.” Sidus felt Regis pull him into an embrace,_

_“I am proud to call you family. You needn’t fear rejection from me anymore. Would that we had met in life,” Regis let him go, “Would that I’d been able to hold you as a child, and given you a life you deserved.”_

_“I’m dreaming aren’t I?” Sidus asked._

_“Why do you say that?” Regis asked._

_“I’ve always…sort of hoped if I could meet you, that you’d be proud of me,” Sidus said._

_“This is very much real,” Regis said._

_“Is it?” Sidus asked._

_“Even if it were a dream, all you’d need do is but ask Cor or Cid. Those who knew me best in life whether or not how you came to be my son would matter to me,” Regis said, “Though, it would be hard for them, they’d be glad to speak to you about that.”_

_“After I found Solis, they were…more open to speaking of the past,” Sidus said._

_“I am sure they would speak with you too,” Regis said, “Solis is a wonderful child, as you said. However, I doubt your origins will cause him to think any less of you. In many ways he is Noctis’s son through and through, but enough of Lunafreya is in the mix and a good deal of Queen Sylva.You asked if I could speak with her, I cannot, but I know she can and does watch over her children, and grandson, with the other oracles of the past. She might be able to contact your friend with some help.” Regis looked over at Carbuncle who yawned._

_“You must got back soon,” Regis said._

_“I do? Oh…I feel it,” Sidus said. It was a cold stealing into his essence, “Do you…want any messages taken back?”_

_“No. I’ve lived my life and I walked tall. All I can ask is that you continue to live yours and walk tall as well, and never look back. Solis will need you for a long time to come, and you’ll need him as well. Never forget, we will always be watching over you both.” Sidus hugged Regis one last time before he walked over to the Phoenix and tugged in the tail feathers_.

 

He gasped awake like he’d just used a phoenix dow— _oh_.

“Thank you, both.” Sidus stood up. The phone buzzed a few times.

_You’re welcome! :D_

**_It was no problem_**.

The rest were chocobo emojis. The time showed he’d only been down there _ten minutes_? He slipped out of the basement.

——————————————————————————————————————

**Two Years Later**

Solis was frustrated. He could barely subspace items, let alone warp like Uncle Sidus or use any elemancy. Though Uncle Sidus claimed what he did wasn’t elemancy. Whatever it was he did, Solis couldn’t do it either. He could heal, a little, like Aunt Diana. Uncle Ravus, Uncle Gladio, and Uncle Prompto had been teaching him how to fight without magic. It just wasn’t fair.

“What did that training dummy ever do to you?” Sidus asked walking into view.

“I…was thinking about stuff,” Solis replied.

“Your magic will come when your body is ready for it. Taking on too much before you’re ready is…painful,” Sidus said.

“How did you know I was thinking about magic?” Solis asked.

“I was just as frustrated as you were when I was ten,” Sidus said, “Though, my circumstances were a bit…different.”

“Because the Nif’s had you?” Solis asked. Sidus started a little.

“Yeah. So, did Mercury blab it or was it the gossips around town?” Sidus asked.

“Both. They had me too, you know,” Solis said.

“Yeah, but you were being reared by someone who was at least _pretending_ to care about you. I was treated like a tool. A means to an end. So when that tool _isn’t_ displaying Lucian magic, pressure is put on them to try to force it to the surface,” Sidus explained. He winced.

“Do you..think they’d have eventually treated me like that if, if they’d won?” Solis asked.

“They were never going to win; Ardyn made sure of that. Though, I doubt it. I was a sort of backhanded way to get control of the Crystal. You were a way to get Lucis’s cooperation outright. Then again, I never met Iedolas until after he was daemonified, so I couldn’t really tell you,” Sidus said.

“How...did they get you? I sort of know how they’d have gotten Aunt Diana, but Lucis is so far away,” Solis said. Sidus sighed.

“Why don’t we go down to the tombs. I’d rather not anyone else hear this,” Sidus said.

 

Once in the basement amongst the tombs, Sidus shut the door to the rest of the Leville.

“Alright, I’m going to level with you. But first, tell me what you know about cloning,” Sidus asked.

“That the empire used it to make a bunch of copies of some mad man, with two of those being Prompto and Mercury and the rest becoming MT’s, though I’ve kept that a secret from everyone so no one tries to hurt either of them,” Solis replied.

“Ok. So, Verstael didn’t just clone himself. He cloned your Mom and Dad too,” Sidus gestured to himself.

“You’re…my Dad’s clone?” Solis said. Sidus seemed to be bracing himself for something.

“That’s so cool!”

“It is?” Sidus asked.

“Yeah! You aren’t lying right?” Solis asked.

“No. I’m Noctis’s Clone, and Diana is Lunafreya’s clone,” Sidus said.

“Why?” Solis asked.

“I told you, I was a sort of plan to get control of the Crystal without Lucis realizing it,” Sidus said, “I was defective. I didn’t obey orders like they thought I should. Maybe that’s why they were raising you the way they did. Though, technically, I’m still your Uncle because a Clone is sort of like a messed up version of an identical twin.”

“Really?” Solis beamed up at him, “So Aunt Diana’s a clone. Are there any other clones?”

“Sort of. Ardyn made cloned bodies of a couple people and their spirits were guided to them by Carbuncle. That would be Nyx, the amazing Glaive who drops in from time to time and your Uncle Ravus,” Sidus winced at the volume of Solis excited whoop.

“Both of you are so cool!”

“Well, from what I hear, your Uncle Ravus used to have a robot arm with his original body, though the two toned eye thing carried over,” Sidus said.

“Really? Wow! Though, doesn’t that mean he died?” Solis asked.

“Yeah, he did. If it hadn’t been for Ardyn being a psycho, he’d have stayed dead, most likely,” Sidus said.

“So, Ardyn did something good?” Solis said.

“By accident a few times,” Sidus ruffled Solis’s hair, “You, Me, Diana, Nyx, Ravus. We’re the five things he did good by complete accident. Now, you can’t tell anyone that I’m your Dad’s Clone. They wouldn’t understand or they’d insist I was just a copy. I met your Dad, and he and I have a lot in common but I’m my own person.”

“I promise! I kept the secret about Mercury and Uncle Prompto so far,” Solis said.

“Fair enough,” Sidus replied.

“Why do people keep trying to push you into being my “regent?”” Solis asked.

“Because I’m an adult male of the Lucian royal line who can be trusted to safe-guard the throne until you’re an adult,” Sidus replied, “I keep saying no because your dad isn’t dead.”

“How can you know he’s alive?” Solis asked.

“Like I told you before, I feel it in here, and call it _“brotherly intuition,”_ ” Sidus said, “Now, I doubt your body’s ready for warping, but I bet I can teach you a few child level magic spells.”

——————————————————————————————————————

**Two More Years Later**

Solis warped at a target Sidus set up for him. It wasn’t a perfect warp, but it was a warp all the same.

“You’re getting better at this,” Sidus said.

“How old were you when you first warped?” Solis asked.

“Your age. Prompto rescued Diana, Mercury, and me and he told me how to warp in a way I understood it. Which was I needed to really want to go to where I threw my sword and reach for magic before I threw it. Sounds silly, but it worked where my caretakers had failed,” Sidus explained.

“Which is why you said that to me?” Solis said.

“Yep. So far, we’re apparently a lot like Noctis, so that means, you’re a lot like me, so explaining it in a way I understand it is what I’ve been doing to help,” Sidus said.

“And it’s working. So…why is your hair that long?” Solis asked. Sidus adjusted his high ponytail a little and shrugged.

“I like it long,” Sidus replied, “And it seems to help the guys and Ravus to remember who I’m _not._ ”

“Do you…think he’d have liked me?” Solis asked. Sidus knew which “he” was meant.

“He’d have loved you,” Sidus said, “He’d be stupid not to and I’d kick his ass.” Solis smiled up at him.

“Bet Uncle would too,” he said.

“He sure would, and so would your Aunt Diana,” Sidus said. Solis nodded. Diana could be…intense.

“She taught me how to make shields yesterday,” Solis said.

“That’s really useful,” Sidus said, “How’s your healing training coming along?”

“It’s good. I just…Aunt Diana acts weird whenever she goes to heal people. Is it….Because of who my Mom was?” Solis asked.

“Kind of. Your Mom was really beloved by a lot of people around Eos as the Oracle. People keep comparing Diana to her or seeing her instead of Diana,” Sidus explained, “It also doesn’t help that now that we’re in our twenties people are just seeing more of your Mom in her face because your Mom was only twenty-four when she died.”

“And growing her hair out won’t help?” Solis said.

“It only helps a little. The same with wearing her hair in twin-tails,” Sidus admitted.

“Not like your hair,” Solis said.

“It does and doesn’t work, Sol,” Sidus said, “Though, I’ve noticed someone’s hair is getting a little shaggy. Trying to emulate your favorite uncle?” Solis smiled and looked back over at the targets.

“Could you…warp with me, until I get it?” he asked.

“Sure,” Sidus said.

——————————————————————————————————————

Solis and Sidus walked through Lestallum together only drawing a few looks here and there. On the outside they looked more like brothers than “Uncle” and “nephew” which helped them blend in.

“Sidus!” Sidus turned to see it was Talcott.

“Talcott!” Solis ran over and hugged the teenager.

“Hey, Talcott,” Sidus clapped a hand on his shoulder. The hesitation was brief but it still nearly caused Sidus to flinch.

“Think you’d be willing to help consult on an artifact they found while expanding the town?” Talcott asked.

“Must be a magic thing if you need me,” Sidus said.

“You are the Black Mage,” Talcott said.

“What’s that make me?” Solis asked.

“The Kid Mage,” Sidus said.

“Not a kid!” Solis grumbled.

“But it’d be good for you to see this,” Sidus said, “We’re in.”

 

The area of “Little Insomnia” had formed a year or so after the Fall, as many called it. There was also a Tiny Tenebrae and a Gralea Block in addition to the Altissia Enclave. Solis and Sidus weren’t exactly fans of going into Little Insomnia. Too many people would stop and stare. They reached the edge of the lights where the well lit pit revealed what looked like part of a royal tomb. Sidus slid down the side first before he nodded to Solis who slid after him, with Talcott on his heels.

“This is in spell script,” Talcott said,

“Which is why you wanted my help,” Sidus said. He brushed a hand over it and it glowed a little, much like a different artifact he’d inspected in Little Insomnia the year before. One that, oddly, had corrupted magic like Ardyn’s. This one, however had no corrupted magic. It was purely Lucian magic. Sidus saw the blade was buried off to the side. It was an ancient looking gladius style sword. Sidus’s eyes widened.

“That’s not just spell script. That’s Solheim spell script. This is the tomb of the Founder,” Sidus said. He searched it and found the name was on the side listed as—.

“What’s wrong?” Solis asked.

“The name inscribed is one Ardyn Lucis Caelum,” Sidus said. He summoned the gladius to himself as the blade joined only for the instant he needed to copy it for the Silver Light. He offered it to Solis to hold.

“Unless you hear it call to you, don’t take it on, Sol, or that will hurt,” Sidus said. Solis nodded and subspaced the sword.

“You—.” The archaeologists present only seemed slightly scandalized by that.

“Our family heirlooms, our say,” Sidus explained.

“Think there is anything inside?” Talcott asked. Sidus approached it and it glowed again. _No other tombs beyond that corrupted one and this one have glowed like this_.

“Has this been documented fully?” Sidus asked a nearby archaeologist.

“As much as we can. Are you really….a Lucis Caelum?”

“Yeah. So’s he,” Sidus gestured to Solis who felt shy and just waved a little. Sidus placed a hand on the side and it glowed even brighter and when the light cleared there was some sort of set of bound scrolls in Sidus’s hand.

“Preserved with magic,” a nearby archaeologist remarked. Sidus handed the scrolls over for examination.

“How did you know to do that?” Talcott asked.

“It was a hunch,” Sidus said, “Solis, do you feel that?” Solis nodded and held his own hand near the tomb making it glow some more, “It’s a little like static.”

“It’s the same writing as on the tomb,” Talcott said. Sidus looked up.

“It’s Solheim spell script then?” a second archaeologist asked. Sidus nodded as he carefully looked over the scrolls as those nearby snapped photos. He wasn’t as fluent as he’d have liked. It was also written….oddly.

“I think this is…a warning,” Sidus said.

“It’s not cursed, is it?” Solis asked.

“No. Not exactly. It talks about something….cursed. Oh. The Accursed. This is about…. _him_ ,” Sidus said

“Who is “him?”” an archaeologist asked.

“That is a Lucian Royal secret,” Sidus said, “Which means I can let you document these but I’m going to need to take these so I can get a full—accurate— translation. This is big. Solis, Talcott, we need to get to Cor.” The other two nodded. After a few pictures were taken of each scroll, and Sidus subspaced them, the lead archaeologist found their voice.

“Is this about the Prophecy? The Chosen King?” Sidus whirled back.

“ ** _What_**?”

“It’s a common rumor,” Talcott explained.

“Really? Shows how little I’ve been paying attention to the gossip,” Sidus remarked, “It is related but I…I…It’s not—.”

“It’s more of a personal matter between the King’s men and his family,” Talcott jumped in.

“Yeah. What he said,” Sidus said, “Maybe after all things are said and done I’ll give you my translation and the scrolls.” He summoned a sword and warped back up the side of the excavation pit. Solis blinked and did likewise, landing with a stumble.

“Are you ok?” Solis asked.

“It’s a bit unsettling that people know. Here I thought this was some secret thing and I find out everyone knows,” Sidus said.

“Is it bad, though?” Solis asked, “That people know why he’s missing?”

“I don’t know,” Sidus said, “What I do know is that I need to get to work on this translation.”

“How come Talcott and the others can’t read that stuff?” Solis asked.

“Spell script requires two things. Knowledge of the runes, and magic. Without magic, you can study the runes for the rest of your life but you will never be able to read them,” Sidus explained, “I found a book on the runes, and magic helped with the rest.”

“So, can I learn?”

“Yeah, don’t see why not,” Sidus said.

——————————————————————————————————————

Sidus sat back as he looked over the scrolls after spending nearly four hours on the first two of five. The story they told….was heartbreaking.

“I got through the first exercise!” Solis said waving his copy from an old book.

“Very good!” Sidus said.

“Why didn’t people continue writing like this?” Solis asked.

“Because we lost the skill to enchant the runes and it was a bit difficult to always have only one group of people being able to read everything,” Sidus said, “Or so Iggy told me.” Solis giggled a little,

“What’s that say?”

“I’m not quite done yet, but I’ll tell you when I am,” Sidus replied, “For now, I think we need a break.”

 

Sidus finished the reading and began to write down his translation of things. The next morning after everyone else currently in Lestallum had left to do their thing, Sidus woke up to Solis poking him.

“Please?” Solis asked.

“Fine, but you can’t tell anyone but the guys. It’s a personal recollection by the Founder King. The other scrolls are full of stories but the first scroll is the one with the most relevance to our lives right now.” Sidus cleared his throat.

——————————————————————————————————————

_If you are reading this, the foreordained time has come to pass and you have found my tomb. Though the name, and the records of my time will put me down in history as the Founder King, Ardyn Lucis Caelum, I confess that this was not my name at my birth. The younger of two sons of one of the last Royal Lines of Solheim following humanity’s insurrection and the Astral War, I never believed myself destined for the throne and crown I now wear. Our shattered lands were afflicted by chaos and the scourge of the star. Many were succumbing to this disease. It seemed that fate had once again favored my beloved brother. He was proclaimed the Chosen by the Astrals and others, but not the Crystal. It deemed him not worthy of its Light. So, while he went forth anyway to heal the afflicted, he instead became the ultimate manifestation of the affliction._

_Whenever he tried to present his deeds as good, the Light—and the Astrals— cast him from grace, with my help._

_I was faced with the monster my beloved elder brother had become. The man I knew was long dead, and this twisted specter had taken his place. Upon direction of the Crystal and the Astrals, I cast him out of Lucis, and out of the line of succession, and out of the annals of history by overwriting his life with my own. To the rest of time, I will be remembered as Ardyn Lucis Caelum, the Founder King of Lucis. The One entrusted with the Crystal and the Prophecy of Providence as well as the Ring of Light. To my own personal shame, my own name will be lost with the Brother whose life I have taken. Though, perhaps my own fate shall be a balance to the fate he has had dealt to him. Neither shall I know rest until the time of Providence, though, regrettably neither shall my descendants who take the throne, claiming the ring, from now until this is all resolved. This is the price of the future. This is the cost of expunging the scourge. Our lives for the Crystal to save mankind._

_The rest of these scrolls are mere anecdotes of my life and my brother’s life from before fate set us on these paths._

_May the Light preserve you,_

_—Somnus Lucis Caelum._

——————————————————————————————————————

“That **_Man_** is our……uncle?” Solis said looking up at Sidus.

“Yeah. He was supposed to be king but something happened and our ancestor had to become the King instead. He…didn’t seem happy about it. That means this sword was Somnus’s,” Sidus said summoning the silver light version of the gladius.

“You said he made you take the other blades on. I wonder….does he—?”

“He _might_ ,” Sidus said, “Which would really slant the fight in his favor against Noctis,” Sidus replied.

“Then, why don’t we find the others?” Solis asked.

“Because, the daemons have overrun the world and it would be dangerous for us to do so, not to mention, your body isn’t ready for it. You will hurt if you try to integrate these weapons; it hurt me,” Sidus replied.

“But we need to do something,” Solis said.

“I don’t know that we really can. I might be able to help a little but I’m also an adult,” Sidus poked Solis in the side which made him squirm, “You’re still a kid. A strong kid, a talented one, but a kid.”

“You’re just saying that,” Solis grumbled.

“Oh? Fine then, we’ll go head to head in about six months. If you can make me my summon my armiger, I’ll acknowledge that you’re strong enough to be seen as an adult,” Sidus said.

“Fine!”

——————————————————————————————————————

Six Months Later

Solis stood in Hammerhead in one of the few cleared patches left in the outpost across from Sidus. Ravus and Prompto were supervising. Mercury and Diana were merely watching.

“Ready?” Sidus asked.

“Ready!” Solis warped at Sidus and the older man sidestepped with ease and he didn’t even need to warp. Solis got frustrated and while Sidus had to occasionally block his training blade with his own wooden sword, he’d yet been forced to phase, let alone warp or summon his blades. It was still impressive to anyone watching, though. Ravus sighed before he yelled,

“Quit thinking of where he is and try to think of where he’ll be!” Solis nodded and the fight grew more intense.Sidus was forced to start using magic to phase out of attacks and he even warped once. However, even with Sidus fighting more seriously, Solis was no match. He ran out of steam and Sidus pinned him. Without any magic left, Solis had to surrender.

“Nice work,” Sidus offered him a hand up.

“How’d you get so good at all this?” Solis asked.

“Gladio,” Sidus said, “That and I _am_ a hunter and I also am part of the raid teams into Insomnia.”

“How can you stand it?” Solis asked.

“Insomnia? I never lived there. The only times I’ve been there, I’ve been on missions to get in, pick up something or someone, and get out,” Sidus replied, “It’s just a daemon infested city.”

“Only “just” infested with daemons,” Solis rolled his eyes.

“Your Uncle Ravus was right, though. With our warping skills you have to think of where an enemy _will_ be aside from where they are,” Sidus said, “Now, if you think you’re bold enough; next time you see Gladio, ask him to train you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He trained me. He trained up Prompto. He even helped train your Dad,” Sidus said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s the Shield of the King. Fighting is kind of his whole deal,” Sidus explained, “Now, let’s get cleaned up. I have a raid with Mer and Diana to get ready for and I think your Uncle Ravus wants to have his own training session with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this was written pre-Royal Edition but post Ep Ignis.  
> This is fully written btw.  
> I went back AFTER the Royal Edition update and changed the name to be Somnus but the way I had this story written there was no way I could make Somnus the Mystic too, so in this AU he's not.  
> Final thing before I go, the artifact I have Sidus mention looking at was part of [ _The Three Clones and the World of Ruin."_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12062010/chapters/27317253) Chapter 2, I think is where this tomb with the broken Ardyn sword came into play.


	3. Sunspot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A King returns and finds many things aren't quite what he expected them to be.
> 
> There are loopholes in every prophecy, and though a goddess is forgotten, she isn't gone.

_Six Months Later_

Solis was at Hammerhead. Again. Why? Because he had promised Talcott that he’d help him with some translations of a more modern version of spell script Talcott and Ignis had found during one of their archival retrieval runs. It used modern lettering but someone had figured out how to enchant it again, which meant only the magical, with eyesight, could decipher it and Sidus was too valuable a raider of the Crown City to have devote his time to this. Ancient Solheim stuff, sure, because he was one of the only people who could read those runes. Modern spell script, Solis and Diana were both useful and even Ravus to a degree. Being the blood of the Oracle he could get through it but it was hard. Plus, Ravus was the uncrowned ruler of the Tenebrae survivors and he was also a big deal in the darkened world and other stuff. Basically, by being kids, he and Talcott were sort of kept off to the side of things to keep from getting underfoot. Except, now Talcott could drive, so he could be more useful than Solis.

_At least you’re not in the grips of a psychotic great uncle_. _There is that._ Plus, he still had the Gladius of the Founder. Though, it drained at him if he used it, like Sidus had warned him it would. Instead, for an early thirteenth birthday, Sidus got him a proper sword.

_“I had it modeled after your Dad’s Engine blade. That old sourpuss, Cid, might have grumbled about making it, but he was more than happy to do it in the end.”_

The others in his inner circle had also gotten in on the early gift act:

Ravusand Diana had gifted him a trident— the symbol of the Oracles.

Prompto and Ignis had given him a crossbow, which was seriously one of the coolest things he’d ever laid hands on, and Gladio, Iris, and Cor had given him a shield.

Talcott had given him a driving lesson in the truck when no one was looking, and honestly that had been his favorite gift because he found he _liked_ it. Unfortunately, even with the end of the world, thirteen year olds weren’t allowed to drive. He had to wait until he was fifteen to even start learning officially. Talcott rolled his eyes and winked at Solis.

His actual birthday was in a couple days, but everyone had been together that day, so they’d had cupcakes and no veggies—yay!

The funniest part of the party was watching Sidus and Diana try _not_ to act on their feelings in front of other people. **_Please_**. Too many people had caught them too many times for anyone to not know they were a “thing.” Solis was still slightly traumatized from the one time he asked Ignis a question about what they were doing—making out— and he got the full blown “facts of life” lecture. Mercury and Talcott were similarly scarred; they’d gotten caught in the cross-fire of that lecture.

 

The spell script was a fragment of a book. It looked like gibberish, the few pages that were there. Honestly, it read more like a nursery rhyme or something. Either way, someone really wasted their time enchanting _that_? _Unless….code_! Solis looked it over again and….there was something there, but he wasn’t a good code breaker, but Talcott might be able to do it. Sidus translated it into regular script and finished his translations whenever he heard the gates open. Wow. He’d not realized he’d spent so long on that. He doubled checked it whenever he heard lots of voices outside the camper. He stuck his head outside and froze. There was a stranger in Hammerhead talking with Talcott. A stranger with hair like Sidus. That same blue-black no one else seemed to have. He didn’t even realize he moved towards them until Talcott jumped a little.

“Talcott, what’s going on?” Solis asked. The new man looked down and Solis’s eyes widened. _That was Sidus’s face only older! That was King Regis’s face but younger! That meant this—this—_.

* * *

Noctis spent time being caught up to speed by Talcott and heard footsteps. Talcott jumped a bit. _That was odd_.

“Talcott, what’s going on?” Noctis looked down and saw his own eyes looking _up_ at him.

“Your Majesty, this is Solis. Solis, this is King Noctis. You Majesty, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Solis is your son.” Talcott had just dropped a bomb on him. A bomb he had _no_ time to process.

“How?” Noctis asked.

“Your blood, Your Majesty, and Lady Lunafreya’s blood,” Talcott explained. Noctis looked back at Solis who was sort of stunned. Noctis might have had an Eos shattering revelation, but the kid needed him to _not_ lose his cool over this, no matter how freaky this was. _First a clone now a kid?_ _What’s next? My mother back from the dead_?

“You’re really him?” Solis asked.

“Yeah,” Noctis said, “What do y’think?” Solis reached a hand to his face and drew it back when he encountered the scruff.

“Where were you?” Solis asked.

“In the Crystal,” Noctis replied, “Did the guys take good care of you?”

“Yeah. Uncle—Uncle Ravus too,” Solis said.

“Ravus is alive?” Noctis asked.

“Yeah. Um, Uncle Sid is better at explaining that. I uh, _know_ about Uncle Sid and Aunt Di and Uncle Prom, and Mercury,” Solis said.

“Bit strange for me too, but I just came out of a Crystal,” Noctis replied. Solis smiled a little.

“We have a proble— _Noct_?” Solis looked up at Mercury who looked more than a little flustered.

“What happened?” Noctis asked straightening up.

“Ardyn has Sidus and Diana! I don’t know why and he let me run because he’s got some twisted trap planned, I know it!” Mercury yelled.

“He let you run, because he wanted you to tell us, but that’s ok, we’ll take him down,” Noctis said, “The others are on their way here. We’ll get them back, I promise.”

* * *

“I’m going with you,” Mercury said to the reunited retinue.

“No,” Prompto said.

“But I can fight!” Mercury yelled. Solis nodded, but he knew they’d never let him tag along either.

“You have a chance of not making it back alive,” Ignis pointed out.

“I don’t care!”

“ ** _But I do_**!” Prompto yelled. Prompto didn’t usually raise his voice like that, so, it took everyone by surprise, “It’s already shitty enough that Noctis has to……I don’t want my baby bro dying too. Not when there’s a chance for you to live! We’ll get Diana and Sidus free, but we can only do it if you stay here.”

“Plus, who else will keep Sol out of trouble. I know for a fact the kid is probably plotting to sneak into the city,” Gladio fixed Solis with a look. Solis shrugged.

“He’s right,” Solis said, “I am.”

“So, I get to **_babysit_** while you guys are risking your lives?” Mercury asked.

“Look at it as safe-guarding the future,” Ignis said.

“Right,” Mercury rolled his eyes, “‘Cause **_that_** makes it better. Fine, but if you die, Prompto, I’m kicking your ass!”

* * *

The guys were gone and Mercury looked over at Solis.

“So what was your plan, anyway?” Mercury asked.

“Not sure beyond “sneak out of Hammerhead.” I—.” Solis grabbed his head as a sudden rush of images appeared.

_Noctis summoning the armiger and getting impaled by the spirits of the Lucii._

_Noctis having the blades explode out of him into Ardyn and Noctis fading into Oblivion._

**“Many have given their lives for the Chosen King. So, must he give his life for all.”**

**_No!_ ** _Solis found himself facing a burning/glowing….Ignis?_

_“Ignis?”_

**_You can stop this fate! Do not let him face the Crystal alone!_ ** _There was a second set of rushed images and everything faded out—before another face appeared. It was a woman._

**Child of Light. That was a plea from another reality. If you wish to act upon this, I shall aide you.**

_“Who…who are you?”_

**Etro. Goddess of Death. Once patron goddess of this land. Do you wish to challenge fate?**

_“If I do, can I save him?” Solis saw Etro nod. “Of course I want to challenge fate!”_

**I shall bestow upon you these gifts, they will be vital to your success.** _Solis shielded his eyes from the light that flared._

**My mark and the Silver Light your Uncle possesses. Now, you must hurry; your time is running out. The Blood of the Oracle and the Sword of Lucis shall assist you.**

 

Solis sat up panting. He was in the caravan in Hammerhead. _Mercury must have put me here after whatever that was hit me._

“What’s wrong?” Mercury was sitting next to him.

“I know how to save Noctis,” Solis said looking up at Mercury.

“Lemme try Prompto’s cell real quick. No service. _Damnit,_ they’re in Insomnia! That means we’ve got to sneak into the city, or maybe just me,”Mercury said.

“ _We_ : I’m a healer and a Lucii,” Solis said. He remembered the woman and saw a strange eye mark on his wrist and when he summoned the Gladius, it was a silver light version.

“When’d you get that?” Mercury asked.

“Later!” Solis leapt out of the bed only to have his legs give out on him. He stood and opened the doors to the camper and saw,

“Uncle?” _The Blood of the Oracle_ ….

“I called in a favor from Commodore Highwind,” Ravus said, “We’ll be dropped within the City limits not far from the Citadel,” he said.

“How did you—?” Solis stopped, “You had a vision too.”

“Your mother contacted me from the Beyond,” Ravus replied. Nyx was behind him.

“I had some weird voice call me the Sword of Lucis and asked me to safeguard the Light,” Nyx said. Solis nodded to them,

“I….can save Noctis. I was shown how, but the phones—.”

“Won’t work that far into the Crown City,” Ravus replied, “Ardyn seemed to have set up cellphone jammers for that express purpose. We will not be engaging the enemy. You will impart whatever it is you need to and we will get you out of there, to safety.”

“But I—.” Ravus gave him a look. “Yes, Uncle.”

* * *

“I can get you onto a building close to the center but I’m not sticking around,” Aranea said as they flew over the ruined city.

“Most of those buildings are filled to the brim with nasties and two of us can’t warp,” Mercury said.

“I can fix that!” Wedge left the cock pit and rummaged through a bin and tossed Mercury something that looked like repurposed MT forearm armor.

“Should do,” he said as he handed Ravus another piece before he rejoined Biggs in the cockpit.

“I recall that Ignis did much the same thing in Altissia,” Ravus remarkedas he slipped the armor on. Mercury just kept staring at it. Solis slapped his head.

“You’ll be ok. It’s not like he knew,” Solis said. Nyx looked over at Ravus for an explanation.

“Mercury was one of the many clones bred for the purpose of becoming an MT. Obviously, he escaped that fate,” Ravus said.

“I….need a moment,” Mercury sat off to the side just staring at the piece. Solis sat next to him. Silently.

“Heads up! We’ve approached the drop site!” Aranea yelled. Solis nodded and stood up with Mercury pulling the hook shot on before the quartet leapt off onto the roof of a building.

“I saw one of my fellow project Mercury trainees die because of one of these things,” Mercury said suddenly, “We were seven, well they looked like teenagers, I looked seven still, and they mistimed the landing.”

“You’re not going to mess up,” Solis said.

“How can you know that? I already messed up by letting Ardyn have Sidus and Diana without a fight!” Mercury yelled.

“You were outmatched, and we’d have never known about those two getting captured,” Nyx replied.

“We need to press onwards,” Ravus said. He aimed his hook shot downwards and disappeared over the edge with the fluttering of his coat tails. Solis nodded and followed suit via a warp strike. Mercury gulped and Nyx just shook his head.

“You go first and if it looks like you’re going to land badly I’ll warp in and save you, deal?” Nyx said.

“Thanks.”

* * *

Solis looked around the ruined ground and saw flames up ahead and heard the yells of battle. He took off without waiting for the others dodging past anything that tried to spawn and using a summoned weapon to smash through the gates. The vibrations hurt his arms but he kept running. That’s when he saw Ifrit the Infernian. Solis skidded to a halt as the horned djinn fought Noctis and the others.

“Holy Six!” Mercury yelled whenever he saw the Infernian’s moves. Especially after the Draconian showed up and he dodged the blades of Bahamut but Noctis managed to get some of the horns sliced off.

“Can we even try to help?”Mercury asked.

“We have to hang back. The kid can’t get caught up in this,” Nyx said.

“Solis! Get back here!” Ravus ordered because Solis had taken off. He felt a burning behind his eyes before lights filled the air and he was suddenly too weak to move forwards. That’s when everything fell silent. Appearing as if made from the lights and darkness itself was Etro in all her glory. She patted Solis on the head as she passed him and entered the area where the fighting had all but ceased.

 

Noctis heard the air go unnaturally still after someone _else_ appeared to have summoned, because it wasn’t him. Before he could even try to locate the summoner, he saw the summons herself. Etro. She glided towards Ifrit who had stood still as death.

**Are you here to take me back to my grave?**

**No. I am here to cleanse your light so that you might be properly reborn into this world, when the time is right, Pyreburner. This, this was not that time.** Noctis felt the burn of summoning on him and heard a voice before the summoning went through revealing Shiva who appeared next to Etro.

**How have you manifested, Necronian?**

**By the mark of a chosen summoner. You know I would not upset the balance I maintain without one.** The stare down between the two forms lasted only a few moments. **You also know that only through me can he be truly returned, but only at the proper time**. Shiva nodded and floated over to Ifrit and kissed him on the cheek, slightly freezing it from her touch while Etro offered him her hand. Ifrit slapped it away but she grabbed onto him.

**Rest now, until it is time for you to be rekindled.** Etro and Ifrit faded out leaving Shiva who nodded to Noctis and the others.

**Oh, King of the Stone. You must restore the Light**. With that, Shiva left too.

“What was that about?” Gladio asked.

“Something about Ifrit needed to go with the death goddess to be reborn properly and Shiva told me to restore the light,” Noctis said.

“Though, you didn’t summon Etro. How was she here?” Ignis mused.

“Uncle Iggy!”

“ **Solis**!” Noctis saw Solis running towards them panting.

“You owe me ten gil, “Gladio said to Prompto who grumbled and fished out the currency.

“You’re not supposed to be here. How did you even get his far?” Noctis asked.

“He had help.” Ravus caught up to Solis, “Though, he wasn’t supposed to stray that far from my side.”

“I had a vision. You can’t face any of this alone. You need to go together!” Solis said, “Together, you live. Alone, you die.”

“Are you sayin’ that Noct can live through this?” Gladio asked.

“Only if you all fight together. You need to go with them, Uncle Ravus.” Solis said, “And then everyone’ll be fine.”

“Sure that wasn’t wishful thinking?” Noctis asked.

“It was Etro. See!” Solis showed Noctis the mark on his wrist.

“Etro’s Gate. _You_ summoned her?” Noctis looked at Solis who nodded.

“What about Sidus?” Prompto asked holding up the sliced off hair. Mercury grabbed it and looked over at Nyx.

“We’ll save him. You five have a date with a monster,” Nyx said gesturing to himself and Mercury.

“I don’t think we need to impress upon you that _all_ of you need to survive this?” Ignis said.

“Not at all,” Mercury said.

* * *

Sidus thought he was done for whenever an extra set of silver blades joined him and so did Nyx!

“Smash it!” An elixir was placed in his hand and he crushed it for instant energy and relief of his pain and exhaustion. He helped to finish off the last of the daemons and flopped onto the ground to rest a little. That’s when a blond blur hugged him.

“You’re ok!”

“Solis?” He pried Solis loose and stared at him.

“He didn’t come here alone, ya know!” Mercury was also hugging him.

“When—.”

“Not long ago. Where’s Diana?” Nyx said. Sidus frowned.

“I don’t know. **He** tossed me down here after he sliced off my hair and told me I could find her if I simply looked up,” Sidus explained, “Why is Solis here?”

“Kid totally had some sort of vision, and so did Nyx and Ravus, about changing fate. So, Ravus is with the guys doing that right now, and we came to save you,” Mercury said.

“I thought you didn’t have any oracle-y powers beyond healing?” Sidus said.

“I thought that too,” Solis replied, “And Uncle didn’t have a vision. My mother contacted him from the beyond.”

“Same dif,” Mercury said, “Um, here.” He handed Sidus the sliced off braid.

“Not like I can reattach it,” Sidus sighed.

“Maybe I can?” Solis said.

“Your healing can do a lot of amazing things, but reattaching hair isn’t one of them,” Sidus replied, “I grew it out once, I can grow it out again.” Sidus subspaced the braid and he looked up and snarled a curse.

“He wrote the hint on the ceiling. She’s in the throne room!” Sidus yelled.

“Then what are we waiting for!” Mercury said. Sidus nodded.

“Isn’t this where we came out of that passage those years ago?” Nyx asked. Sidus and Mercury exchanged looks before they bolted through the parking garage level.

“ ** _Keep him safe, Nyx_**!” Sidus yelled over his shoulder.

 

Solis moved to join them but Nyx held him back.

“Not happening. We’re going to find a nice safe spot to hide until this is over.”

“But—.”

“No. This is not a fight for a kid. Not even as capable a one as you.”

* * *

Sidus and Mercury dashed through the passage and skidded to a halt at the two gestation tubes that were intact but empty.

“I thought you smashed all of those?” Sidus asked.

“I didn’t get two of them,” Mercury said.

“No time to deal with that now,” Sidus said before he sprinted out the door. He threw a blade and warped up the steps. This left Mercury to grumble and use the hook shot to follow him. They burst out onto the main floor and ran for the elevators. Sidus pried the doors open and flung his sword up warping his way up through the shaft. The sounds of Mercury’s hook shot let him know that he was still following him. He stopped at the top floor and forced those doors open, just as the other set of doors opened.

“How did you even get up here?” Ignis asked. Mercury’s hook shot buried itself into the wall and Mercury climbed out of the open doors.

“I think that answers that,” Noctis replied, “Have fun going up the elevator the hard way?”

“Why’re you two even up here?” Gladio asked.

“Diana’s in there,” Sidus said pointing down the hall.

“Of course. Where else would a megalomaniac put the damsel in distress,” Prompto said.

“Diana would punch you if she heard that,” Mercury said.

“She’d punch me for a lot of things. Aranea was a bad influence on her,” Prompto said. Ravus looked at Sidus with an intense stare bordering on a glare.

“We left Solis with Nyx, Ravus,” Sidus said. Ravus nodded.

“What are you wearing?” Nocits asked. Sidus looked down at his tattered shirt and slightly wrecked pants.

“I think he wanted me to be dressed like you were when you were my age?” Sidus replied, “It got a bit ruined by the Iron Giants and Red Giants, and Gargantuas he had me fighting.”

“Wait, if he dressed you like twenty-something Noctis, does that mean he—.” Mercury started before he was cut off.

“If he did, she’s gonna be pissed when she wakes up,” Sidus said.

“Fill me in, I don’t speak Clone Kid,” Noctis asked.

“Diana would rather not be compared to her original, widely believed to be her elder sister, and usually goes to great lengths to not be seen as the second coming of Lady Lunafreya,” Ignis said.

“I’ve made efforts to help end this perception but people don’t often listen,” Ravus added, “Because regardless of how she came to be, she is my sister as well.”

“Plus, more people against that loony the better, right?” Mercury said.

“Couldn’t hurt,” Ignis said.

“How much do you believe in Solis’s vision?” Noctis asked.

“100%,” Sidus said, “Mercury filled me in before we caught up to the world’s slowest elevator.”

“In our defense, we ran into your reanimated ancestors whenever we tried to enter the building,” Prompto said, “And after the fight with Ifrit we were still a little worn out.”

“How _did_ you manage to bypass fighting the corrupted spirits or any daemons?” Ignis asked.

“The stairs,” Sidus replied.

* * *

Sidus walked in formation towards the farthest edge with Ravus next to him. Mercury and Prompto were on the other end, ready to drop back being the distance fighters. He looked up and Ravus grabbed him back. Not only were there decaying shells of Regis and Lunaferya hanging in chains, there was also Diana tied up dressed as Lunafreya had been during the treaty ceremony, or so a surviving magazine Diana had found had shown (she’d grabbed it for the picture of the Citadel on the cover). Even her hair had been roughly styled and shorn to match Lunafreya’s hair. Much liked his own hair. Ardyn casually sat on the throne.

“I’m afraid you’re out of luck. The throne brings you here? It seats only one.”

“Off my chair, Jester. The King sits there,” Noctis said. Ardyn stood, casually, and stomped on the throne leaning over it.

“Oh, Noct….How I have waited for this. Longer than you could ever know. Tonight the dreams of the blood royal…come to an end.”

“Spite’s all that’s kept him going,” Gladio remarked.

“Talk about a grudge,” Prompto said.

“Ardyn sits the throne?” Ignis asked.

“Not for long,” Noctis said, “It’s time for a different ascension.” Ardyn’s eyes narrowed before he flung a hand forwards. Sidus reacted with an omnishield blocking the strange attack.

“You know, I’m starting to really regret making that _copy_ ,” Ardyn said.

“Sorry, they were never able to fix that defect of mine,” Sidus said.

“This ends, tonight,” Noctis said before he charged forwards with the others at his side. Ardyn blocked and smirked at them before he summoned the armiger and then kept summoning extra blades.

“I can summon an extra blade as well,” Sidus stepped forwards and summoned the actual Gladius of the Founder from his inventory and held it in front of his face. Ardyn’s reaction was almost comical were it not so filled with malice.

“ ** _Where did you get that!_** ”

“I found it in a half destroyed tomb outside Lestallum. **_Somnus_** sends his regards,” Sidus said. He barely phased out of the attack Ardyn sent his way.

“What’s happening?” Ignis asked.

“Ardyn has like every other glaive _ever_ ,” Prompto said, “And Sidus picked up a sword that’s got Ardyn pissed because it belonged to someone named Somnus.”

“Noctis, catch!” Sidus yelled before he switched to his silver light version and warped away. Noctis held a hand out and it joined his armiger.

“This is….the Founder’s sword!” Noctis said.

“Yeah. Real name Somnus Lucis Caelum!” Sidus said.

“ ** _My dear brother couldn’t settle for just taking the throne and the stone, but he also had to take my name_**!” Ardyn snarled.

“Keep your wits and act like you’re fighting me,” Noctis said, “Or Sidus.”

“Can do!” Gladio said.

* * *

With it being seven on one, the odds weren’t as drastically skewed in Ardyn’s favor. Especially with Noctis being powered up by his time in the Crystal absorbing the Light and using the ring from time to time. Ardyn smirked at everyone and warped out a hole in the wall down to a spot in the distance.

“Only two of us can get to him quickly,” Noctis said.

“Then do it; we’ll catch up,” Gladio said. Noctis nodded to Sidus who flung his sword at the same time as Noctis. It was at this time Diana woke up.

“What the hell?” she yelled. Ravus threw his blade up at the chains, destroying them sending Diana plummeting to the floor while the other two corpses faded out into black smoke. Gladio caught her before she could land on her face.

“Take this,” Ignis handed her his lance.

“Thanks, Iggy. Ugh, what am I even wearing?” Diana looked down at the skirt and ripped it up the sides before she followed the others out into the antechambers.

“A dress,” Mercury said.

“I know that dumbass—wait, why are you here?” Diana asked.

“I went to get help,” Mercury said.

“Lets just get down there before the fight ends without us,” Gladio said.

* * *

Sidus and Noctis often ended up back to back fighting Ardyn and his over 100 glaives.

“Noctis, how do you know that this boy won’t just do the same thing Somnus did? He’s another Younger Brother without much of a future and not chosen by the Crystal’s Light,” Ardyn said.

“Because I would tell the gods to screw off before I did that to Noctis?” Sidus said, “Because I’d much rather be the fun Uncle than a King?”

“Because he’s got no desire for it?” Noctis said, “We could keep going.” They dodged away from the blades and that’s when Noctis manifested a floating Armiger, leaving Sidus on the ground with his own Silver Light version being forced to warp to keep up and attempt to land a few good hits here and there. Mostly, it was a battle of a King and a would-be King.

 

It ended with Ardyn on the pavement.

“Am I to be consigned to the darkness once again?” he asked Noctis.

“No. This time you will get to rest in peace,” Noctis said leaning over him.

“Ardyn. Somnus….never wanted any of it. He left a letter in his tomb. He loved you. He hated exiling you and wiping you out of history and hated taking your place. If you see him again….please forgive him for doing the Six’s bidding,” Sidus said. Ardyn faded out before Sidus could see any reaction.

“You really did find something like that?” Noctis asked.

“Yep. With his sword,” Sidus replied. The rain seemed to wash the pain and the past away.

“It’s time to return the Light,” Nocits said.

“Right and you won’t be doing it alone.”

* * *

They met up with the others on the stairs.

“It’s time. We need to walk tall, together,” Noctis said, “Never would I have gotten this far without others helping me.”

“And so we shall continue to walk with you,” Ignis said bowing to Noctis. The others bowed their heads to him too, even Diana who made him pause at how much she looked like Luna, but there was a difference to her that made it less of a shock.

* * *

Solis slipped away from Nyx and ran out of the parking garage only to stop and stare at the sky.

“Get back here y—.” It was turning pink. Absent for years, the dawn was back. Before Nyx could recover Solis bolted up the stairs to the main level of the courtyard and up the next set of stairs into the lobby. He noticed the doors that were pried open, so he looked up and warped his way up the shaft and crawled out. He ran down the hallway and turned towards the throne room. The doors were still intact, though they’d apparently been blasted back a little. Solis was holding his breath as he walked in. On the ground was everyone he cared about. His healer training kicked in and he checked for pulses for everyone nearest him. When he reached Ignis, he paused. His sunglasses were off and the scarring that he knew on Ignis’s face so well was faded a lot. Almost as if he had been healed. He found Sidus next to Diana and suppressed a small snicker before finding they were ok and placing their hands together. He looked up at the throne where Noctis— _his father_ sat slumped over. Solis ripped up those stairs phasing past rubble.

_Please. Please let this have worked._ He shakily placed his fingers on Noctis’s neck and he nearly cried from relief whenever he felt the pulse beneath his fingers. He stepped back and let out a shaky sighEverything had been changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how about that Episode Ardyn Prologue, huh?  
> So, now I have to say this was written before I knew Somnus was kind of a dick. My sympathies for Noctis having two dickish ancestors (that we know of).

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU I wrote a little while ago. It combines my favorite FF XV OCs all into one timeline. Well, most of them.  
> Nyx and Ravus are here and alive because self-indulgence is the name of this game.  
> Also, I wrote this after Comrades came out whereas _The Three Clones and the World of Ruin_ was written before that expansion came out.  
> Or rather: Chapter 1 was written Pre-Royal Edition and Episode Ignis.  
> Chapter 2 Pre-Royal Edition Post Episode Ignis  
> Chapter 3 Post Royal edition and Episode Ignis with me going back and changing names around to fit things from the Royal Edition...to a degree. Somnus and the Mystic are not the same guy in this AU.


End file.
